the Project
by TheLureln
Summary: On hold due to lack of response. People are reading it but I'm getting no feedback, so I have no motivation to continue. Maybe later. In which Niv-Mizzet plays matchmaker, for his own reasons of course. Rating will vary by chapter. This story will be updated Fridays, after FNM.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I am not writing this story for profit, merely entertainment. MTG it's characters and setting belong to Wizards of the Coast, anything else is mine.**

All the land was still and yet his mind never rested. His madness could be attributed in part to his inability to stifle his ever wandering thoughts. He had pondered infinite matters over the course of centuries, but on this night he found himself returning to the one question that it seemed every sentient being dwelled upon at least once in their existence. What was the meaning of life? He supposed he would answer to attain as much knowledge as possible before fading away to time, but there had to be more to it than that. He was always restless, and this night he took to wandering the meandering halls of the aerie, making his way down floors as he drifted along lost in his musings.

The hour was so late he was astonished when he discovered activity in his library. Easily the size of a large residence, the area was lined from floor to ceiling with books, scrolls, and every other conceivable form of the written word. Decorated in muted colors of the guild, the rooms were a peaceful foil to the whirling thoughts of their master and had been deliberately designed to be relaxing. It was easier to focus one's attention in such an environment. Tasteful furniture was scattered throughout the space, elaborately carved tables and cushioned chairs that put comfort first. He was much too large for any of it, of course, but he did occasionally exceed the needs of his servants.

In one corner of the archives, near the great vault where he kept his most valuable spells locked away, a woman sat poring over an enormous tome outlining the contents of that section of the bibliotheca. Clearly she was reorganizing the space and had presumably lost track of time. He was bemused by her devotion, more so as he drew near to her and realized she was nothing more than an archivist. She wasn't a mage, alchemist, nothing. She was just a girl. Interesting she'd managed to get a position in the library, but it perhaps explained her dedication to the job. There was a legion of novice magic users who would kill for her position.

She went still as he approached, carefully setting down her pen and placing her hands in her lap before training her eyes on the vicinity of his chest.

"My lord," she greeted him, the slight tremble in her voice giving away her anxiety and possibly fear.

She was right to be afraid. He could be a tyrant when the mood struck him. At the moment though his curiosity was piqued. "It would be much faster to catalog the texts by using magic instead of taking down everything by hand and rearranging it manually."

Her chin rose in the air slightly, not enough to meet his gaze but the action amused him nonetheless. She was cautious but not a coward. "I am incapable of casting spells, my liege."

Honesty was a refreshing and rare quality when it was given voluntarily. Particularly since her lack of power would ordinarily cost her the job now that he was aware of her existence. "How did you manage to enter the employ of the guild without magic?"

Her mouth curved into a slight smile as she replied, "I have the gift of extreme detail to organization, my lord. I was originally brought here to assist another mage, but I performed so well I was offered a position of my own. It also helps that I have no personal life whatsoever so I spend most of my free time here."

Her words surprised a laugh out of him. Normally by this time his mind was being drawn into a myriad of directions as he grew bored with mundane conversation, and while it was true pressing questions were whispering in the background, they were muted for the moment. He was not used to such frankness from his lower subordinates. He could add courage to her list of qualities, or perhaps foolishness. Either trait was admirable in the right circumstances and for the time being he chose to be amused.

"Such devotion is to be commended, if not recommended. A child your age should occasionally venture out in the world instead of burying yourself in work," he pointed out.

Her shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly, insulted perhaps by his own frankness. "I'm certain the daily activities of one such as myself is beneath your notice my liege. You have come to the library for the first time since my employment here, and while I am sure you know the ins and outs of this place far better than I, I feel compelled to ask if there is anything I can assist you with?"

Clever words to disguise what could be taken as a reprimand, or not. The ambiguity only improved his humor. Courageous or foolish indeed. It was a shame she was merely human. "I came here for no particular reason. I was merely thinking to myself and wandered this way. But since you are so generously offering your assistance, it would be remiss of me to not accept it. What do you suppose is the meaning of life?"

Now he surprised her into laughing, and in that unguarded moment she forgot herself enough to raise her eyes to his. "I would never presume to have an encompassing answer for a query like that, particularly when presented by you. However if you genuinely want to know, I can say that I feel there is no one reason for all but rather one per person. For instance, I think the meaning of life is love in all of it's facets."

He would normally dismiss such an answer, love being of minimal interest to him, except she had mentioned it in terms of aspects and in a way that indicated she knew her answer was one he would most likely not agree with. Her subjective surmising was distinctly wise despite her simple status. "That's a surprising answer coming from someone who claims to have no personal life."

The laughter abruptly died from her face as she lowered her eyes once again. "Yes well, such a remarkable thing as love frequently overlooks the ordinary."

She had a shrewd opinion of herself. Although he was not human, he knew her to be no great beauty for the species. Not unattractive but not outstanding either. Her lack of magic would be a deterrent to the greater population. Her intelligence, while capable of balancing her merely pretty appearance, was not something one would discover without approaching her first. It wasn't hard to conclude she would most likely end up alone. He was surprised to find himself annoyed by that fact. It just seemed a waste, considering her honesty and courage.

"Perhaps, but then again, something as 'remarkable' as love might just be taking it's time until the moment is right," he finally answered her, a series of minor thoughts floating through his mind. "What is your name, girl?"

She shifted in her seat, clearly surprised by his question, rightly thinking she was beneath the attention of her guildmaster as a mere archivist. "I am called Lorissa deCar my lord."

"Look at me when you speak," he commanded, his arrogance at last asserting itself, waiting until her eyes once again met his. "I, of course, am Niv-Mizzet. Well met Lorissa deCar."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine._

**_M rating for this chapter._**

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><p>Jace Beleren was not in the best of moods as he made his way through the halls of Nivix. He rarely left a meeting with the Dracogenius without feeling as if he were one step behind the thinking of the mad dragon. It was an unsettling occurrence for a man who prided himself on being a master manipulator and planner himself. It was possible the guild master's borderline insanity was what enabled him to be so confounding. He had asked the dragon for a tracking spell, he was seeking a rare ingredient for the construction of a phylactery to store memories in. Niv-Mizzet had agreed to allow him the use of the spell for a price, an unnamed favor to be determined in the future. He intensely disliked owing favors, but the dragon would accept no other payment, so the Mind Sculptor had agreed with the condition he had the right to refuse a request he found unreasonable.<p>

Jace entered the library and began scanning the area for the person Niv-Mizzet had told him to look for. He had to search twice before he spotted her. Everyone else there was wearing bold colors of their guild on outrageous outfits, but she was dressed in comfortable clothing done in neutral tones. As he walked up to her, his first impression of her was that of a faerie or more precisely a ouphe, although she was still within the range of human height merely on the short side. She was small and delicate, with dark hair and eyes, pretty in an eye-catching way once you noticed her. Her movements were quick and graceful as she darted around, completely oblivious to his presence until he was nearly upon her.

She turned to look at him as his shadow fell over her, and for a moment they were both taken aback by how he towered over her. Her brown eyes met his gaze straight on, and the intensity of her arrested him as she asked in a dulcet voice, "May I help you?"

The man in front of her demanded attention with his elaborate blue clothing that was flashy even in a library full of guildmages. He was tall and lean, with hair so dark that it gleamed deep cerulean in places and riveting electric blue eyes that eclipsed the strange white markings, possibly scars or tattoos, on his face. There was something familiar about him, as if she should know who he was, but she didn't. She wouldn't forget a man as handsome as he was.

"That depends, are you Lorissa deCar," he responded, his voice smooth and self-assured.

His confidence was rather attractive, she was disconcerted enough by his appearance and demeanor to stammer slightly as she said, "Yes I am."

Jace was amused by her reaction, no doubt such a low ranked practitioner was intimidated by his presence. His fame generally preceded him these days. He smirked at her out of habit. He was somewhat surprised the dragon had directed him to the girl since she was obviously just a bureaucrat, and out of curiosity he skimmed her mind.

Despite his physical appeal, the smile he gave her was a turn off. This man was arrogant she realized with disappointment. Such a waste of a good fantasy she could have used while touching herself later.

He invaded her thoughts just in time to catch the blatantly carnal image and the grin was immediately wiped from his face as his body instinctively reacted to the sexual picture. He drew his breath in sharply as he grew hard in an instant, suddenly aware of her in a much more primal way. He wasn't sure how to respond since he knew she had no idea he'd read her mind. Common sense warned him to keep such a detail to himself, and his baser instincts were telling him to find a way to get inside her. Used to being able to govern his urges, he was nonplussed to find it was difficult to recall the reason he was there in the first place.

"Niv-Mizzet sent me to you for a tracking spell he has in his vault," he finally managed to mutter out between clenched teeth, doing his best to ignore the throbbing in his groin. He held up an insignia the dragon had given him, stating the archivist would recognize it.

Lorissa was confused by the strained tone of his voice, but she knew the guildmaster's seal and the spell name written on it so she nodded at the man and said, "I can get that for you."

"Lead the way," Jace replied, knowing he would be walking with a pronounced limp from his unruly erection and not wanting her to see it. He drew his cloak around himself to hide the obvious bulge as she turned and made her way across the library with him close behind.

Despite the precaution, he felt several eyes tracking their progress since he was so highly recognizable. He only hoped they thought he was limping due to an injury. Following her allowed him the time to openly study her. She was slender, not at all as voluptuous as the women that usually managed to distract him from his never-ending pursuit of knowledge and to a less intentional degree power. She was much shorter than he preferred and she was no great beauty. Frankly his reaction to her seemed absurd, even knowing she'd planned on masturbating while picturing him. He'd had kinky sex with some fantastic lovers. Why did he find her so exciting?

He decided to probe her again, this time checking for her powers. Perhaps she was some sort of siren. He was astonished to find she had none at all. She was just a human. How on earth had she gotten a job as an archivist for Niv-Mizzet? He was still pondering that question as she glided to a halt before the vault and ran her palms over the surface of the door, which swung open upon recognizing her. He was transfixed by the motion of her hands, imagining them gliding over his aroused body. He cursed under his breath, knowing such thoughts were only prolonging his torture.

Jace was a man of action as much as planning, and as he stepped into the vault, reeling from his attraction to her, he reached a decision. There were several pressing guild matters on Ravnica that required his attention in addition to his own experiments and he couldn't afford to be distracted. Better to just get this out of the way he realized as he hovered behind her, excruciatingly aware of her proximity, close enough to touch if he just reached out to do it.

The day had started out normally for Lorissa. She'd gotten up, fed her Pride lion Nix, and headed to work. She'd spent the day continuing the organization of the transmogrification section of the library in solitude, unnoticed as usual by the guildmages who believed she was beneath their attention since she had no magic. Then this gorgeous man showed up and left her feeling nervous and flustered. She could sense him standing by her, so close his body heat seemed to caress her, his breath fanning the hair on the top of her head as she quickly located the item he was looking for.

She turned around to give him the spell and her nose brushed his chest. Wow he'd been closer than she realized. She hopped away from him in surprise, her eyes wide as she glanced up at him. He was watching her with a hooded expression that made her nervous. "Here's the spell you were looking for."

She placed the item in his hand and shivered at the contact, startled by how good the accidental touch felt.

"Thank you," he replied, his voice almost bored as he handed her the insignia from Niv-Mizzet. "And now that's taken care of, I need your help with something else. _I want you_."

He spoke the last three words softly, his voice dropping to a seductive pitch that was completely lost on her because she was so utterly disoriented by the words themselves. Her initial thought was surely she hadn't heard him correctly. He'd probably said I want you to help me with something else. Strange men did not proposition her, she was not the type of woman to inspire grand passion. As he continued to stand there, clearly awaiting a response, she realized she had in fact heard him correctly. Was this some kind of joke?

"You don't even know my name," she blurted out, still confused and fairly certain she'd misheard him.

"So tell it to me, I'll need to know what to call you by in bed," he said, his eyes pinning her in place, not a pickup line but a statement of fact.

Well, that cleared up her earlier confusion. He was definitely trying to pick her up. Not for anything meaningful like a date, just sex. Still the man was delicious and she hadn't been with anyone in a long time. She found herself saying, "Lorissa" before she could think better of it.

"You can call me Jace," he murmured, taking her response as an assent, reaching behind him to draw the vault door shut, sealing the two of them inside.

Lorissa blinked as the door closed and he removed his cloak. "Wait a second, you mean right now?"

He was charmed by her scandalized tone, her innocence as cute as it was disarming. For answer he gestured below his belt, where his erection was rather obvious even beneath all the layers of his clothing. "Absolutely."

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><p>In his aerie at the top of Nivix, Niv-Mizzet chuckled to himself and shut off his link to the insignia he'd given the Mind Sculptor. The game was afoot.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile. Happy Valentine's Day!**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>Lorissa watched in dumbfounded silence as Jace pulled off the rest of his clothing. The body he bared was well developed and surprisingly athletic for someone who practiced magic. He had broad shoulders and a torso that tapered down to a narrow waist. The marks on his face were tattoos after all, and flowed in a curved manner onto his shoulders and collarbones. His thighs were sleekly muscled and as he turned to pile his clothes to one side she caught a glimpse of a taut butt. When he faced her again she got an eyeful of a rather awesome erection. She quickly closed her eyes in embarrassment, unable to comprehend that she was about to have sex during the middle of the day at work with a complete stranger.<p>

Jace watched her with a combination of amusement and impatience. He wanted to see her, touch her, taste her and she was still standing there completely clothed. From what he could tell, she had lovely legs, a tiny waist and prettily shaped breasts but he wanted to find out first hand. He wasn't a vain man but he knew many women found him desirable, so he was surprised this one was taking so long to accept what he offered.

"If you want you can just take off your panties," he finally said to break the silence, smiling as her eyes flew open in surprise. "I think it would be rather sexy being inside an otherwise clothed woman while I'm naked."

He meant what he said, the contrast turning him on enough to cause him to leak as he waited for her to react. Her eyelashes fluttered madly and then she straightened away from the wall, dragging her hands up her sides, over her breasts to unfasten her top. He followed the progress of her fingers as they teasingly slid each button free until the cloth parted to reveal a surprisingly sexy blue lace bra. He grinned when he saw the color, almost as if it were a portent. She slipped the blouse off and then reached down to undo her skirt. Until that moment he didn't even notice the thing actually buttoned in the front, but each one she unfastened revealed inches of silken skin that his fingers itched to feel. As she kicked the skirt aside his gaze hungrily lingered on the panties that perfectly matched her bra. For a moment they stood there and stared at one another, Jace naked and Lorissa nearly so except for her undergarments and heels.

"Why don't we try a compromise instead," she said into the charged silence, running a finger along the seam of her panties before pulling them to one side and baring herself to him.

Lust jolted him like a lightning bolt and he was across the room in an instant. She was turning out to be far more alluring than he'd expected. The thought barely registered before he put his hands on her and then it was gone. He lifted her off the ground to bring her face even with his and as she wrapped her legs around his waist he could feel how wet she was. He hadn't even really touched her yet and she was already that turned on by him. It drove him wild. His hands tightened on her and he crashed his mouth down against hers, incapable of finesse.

Lorissa didn't care about his lack of technique, he more than made up for it with sheer enthusiasm. He devoured her with his mouth, his tongue entwining with hers in a gliding rhythm that made her head spin. He pushed her back against the wall of the vault, where they made love with wild abandon. Afterwards, he collapsed against her as he regained his senses and his knees gave out, sliding them both to the floor.

The sound of their labored breathing echoed in the vault as Lorissa moved off of his lap, unsure how to act in the aftermath of such a staggering experience. Jace's hair was dripping sweat onto his face as he watched her move, his chest covered in a sheen from the exertion. She glanced over at him while reaching for her clothes and paused. He was still partially aroused, his muscles still distended from sex.

"You're magnificent," she muttered out loud, irritated by how compelling she found him.

He laughed, pleased by her artless admission but also aware of an urge to flee. It wasn't like his normal compulsion to leave once he'd gotten off. Rather it was the need to run from something far more intense than he'd been expecting. He stood and gathered his own clothing, trying to ignore the fact he was capable of having sex with her again already, aware of how rare and overwhelming his response to her was. For all her normalcy, she seemed to ignite him.

They dressed in silence and Lorissa suddenly sighed, "Well, this is awkward."

He hesitated in the process of pulling on his pants to glance at her, worried she was going to want to have a conversation about what they'd just done. She was standing there already dressed, holding up her torn panties and frowning. He laughed again, this time in relief, even as he found the idea of her walking around without underwear on incredibly sexy. Only he would know, and only he would know why. He was about to get another hard on so he made himself look away. As he turned his eyes to one side, from the corner of his vision he saw her gaze at him and tilt her head in a way that suggested she was checking him out from head to toe. His body tautened under her regard, muscles tensing in response to her visual touch, preening at her appraisal like some sort of mindless animal. His lack of governance over his body was an unpleasant truth for a man used to being in control of himself. She was dangerous.

"Gah this is so annoying, why can't I stop looking at you," she grumbled before turning away to pick up the discarded insignia from Niv-Mizzet.

Her blatant honesty brought a smile to his face and soothed his panicked sensibilities. She seemed to suffer from the same delirious attraction he was slave to and she didn't appear to enjoy it anymore than he did. He needed to take his leave, there were about a dozen complications on Ravnica demanding his time and if he was honest with himself he wanted to get away from this enticing woman.

Jace walked up to Lorissa and brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. "You were exceptional. Perhaps one day we can do this again."

Against his better judgment, he bent down and placed a light kiss on her lips. Heat blazed up between them almost instantly, they leaned into each other instinctively as her mouth opened under his. Before he realized it, his tongue had swept inside and was teasingly stroking against her own. They drowned in each other's taste as the kiss grew hotter, their bodies beginning to sing from the pleasure, his erection rising as her breasts swelled against his chest.

Jace shook his head in an effort to clear it and shoved her away from him. He wanted her again, now, even though he knew that shouldn't be the case. He refused to give her that kind of power over him. Lorissa stared at him in bemusement, mortified he was able to arouse her so easily. She just wanted her quiet, boring, oh so safe life back. They stood there gasping in the vault for an instant before he took the coward's way out. He teleported from the room out of sheer instinct and it was only after he left that he realized at some point, he'd confiscated her torn panties and forgotten his own belt in the process. He was no fool, he suspected his subconscious was trying to engineer a reason for him to see her again. But he wasn't going to if he could help it, she was far too threatening to his will.

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><p><strong>AN: That's right, sex in a vault! Because he's from the vault. Couldn't resist, lol.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>The Firemind was clever enough to realize if he went to see his little librarian right away, she might become suspicious of her seemingly random encounter with the Architect of Thought. So he brought into play his millennia of patience and managed to wait until the next day. In order to avoid notice, he didn't make an appearance in the athenaeum until well after sun down. Even then, there were still a handful of workers present when he made his entrance. They stiffened in surprise and bowed their heads as he passed, he nodded in acceptance of their obeisance as he continued on his way. They were undoubtedly wondering what had brought him there, but they would not dare to follow him.<p>

He found Lorissa at work in the same area of the library, only this time there was a mountain of tomes, vellum, and folders piled around her. She was intently peering down at a scroll, brow furrowed in thought, oblivious to his presence until he said, "Still diligently cataloging Transmogrification I see."

She let out a most undignified yelp and flew up out of her seat, sending the scroll flying through the air. He sincerely hoped it wasn't a valuable spell but could hardly blame her for any damage it sustained thanks to his juvenile impulse to frighten her. She sent him a baleful glare, her hand on her chest as she stammered, "My liege what on earth are you doing here?"

Niv-Mizzet chuckled to himself, pleased with the unguarded response. That had been the whole point to scaring her, he found he was amused by her impertinent honesty. "I just wanted to make certain you were able to help an associate of mine that I sent to you the other day."

A circuitous way of bringing up her introduction to Jace, which the dragon did not want her to know he had orchestrated. On occasion he liked to entertain himself with pet projects and she had become one of his latest. There was the added bonus of meddling in the affairs of the Mind Sculptor, which the Dracogenius couldn't resist.

Of course his query had the subtly of a sledgehammer if she was at all suspicious, but the blank look she gave him indicated she wasn't. "I have assisted several dozen people in the last day, my lord. Which do you refer to?"

Apparently the library saw more traffic than he'd realized. "Ah, I was referring to the Memory Adept. He likes to dress in blue."

She still looked confused until he mentioned the clothing color. Then her eyes widened and a definite flush appeared. "Yes, I retrieved a scroll from the vault for him yesterday."

The dragon took a moment to carefully study her, taking note of her heightened color and alarmed face. Something had obviously occurred, how delightful. "Excellent, I hope he was polite to you. He's known to be a bit fast with his mouth."

The flush on her cheeks darkened perceptibly, how very interesting.

For her part, Lorissa was remembering how very fast Jace had put his mouth to work on her. She hadn't minded one bit, at least until after he left. Then there had been hours of recriminations. She'd had mind blowing sex with a man she hardly knew, on the job. Anyone could have walked in and caught them and she would have probably been fired. She had worked her ass off to obtain and keep this position. She would never find employment like this again and she had risked it all for a pretty face, drool worthy body and talented hands. There was also the small fact she didn't even know his full name, making her feel like something of a slut. Oh, not to mention how he simply vanished after banging her senseless. Sure he'd mentioned something about possibly meeting up again, but she knew very well he was just talking about on call sex and not dating. They'd used each other mutually although she hadn't exactly been in her right mind at the time, being utterly swept away by his overwhelming magnetism.

She'd spent the rest of her day at work lost in a daze and had finally gone home out of sheer frustration once she discovered she had misfiled the same book for the fourth time in a row. Nix had greeted her with his usual enthusiasm, meaning she had been forced to wrestle with the great cat a good fifteen minutes before he allowed her to change into more comfortable clothes and settle into her evening routine. Normally she'd read a good book, pause to make herself dinner and finish the book up while taking a relaxing bath. Last night she had stewed over her stupidity and vowed in future to not let her head be turned again so easily.

Of course her body wasn't so willing to forget about Jace. He'd turned her on like no one ever had before and pleasured her so well she was afraid no other man would be able to make her feel that good again. And they had only had sex once. It was a very troubling realization to say the least.

Sometime near dawn she had finally managed to stop remembering the feel of his hands and mouth on her body, falling into a restless sleep. This morning she'd only woken up on time thanks to Nix leaping onto the bed with enough force to make her fall out of it. Landing face first on the floor had gotten her to rise for the day albeit with ill grace. The smug cat was completely unrepentant, demanding his breakfast and morning adoration.

The day at work had passed uneventfully, except every time she had to go into the vault she had flashbacks to the day before. She was pretty sure she could catch the faint scent of sex on the air, but no one mentioned it. She'd kept herself so busy she had little time to think of the man, but now here was her guildmaster reminding her about him. The last thing she wanted to do was have graphic images of Jace in her mind while speaking with the dragon.

"He was perfectly civil," she finally answered, no longer able to meet her lord's gaze.

A boring but appropriate response given their relationship, but Niv-Mizzet found it unsatisfying. He wanted to know what had transpired. Perhaps he should have remained linked to the insignia he'd given to Jace, but the nature of their conversation at the time had suggested they were about to become intimate so the dragon had cut the connection. Now he was left with no clear knowledge of the outcome and no way of discerning the truth without seeming suspect. This was an unanticipated drawback. He decided to withdraw for the moment and bid her farewell, already formulating his next plan.

Lorissa watched him go with a sense of relief. It was never good to have the attention of a guildmaster unless one was strong enough to survive such a peril. As a mere mortal completely untrained in combat, she didn't fall into that category. She turned back to her work, determined to put Jace from her mind. Even if she wanted to see him again, she had no idea how to find him. It was better that way.

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><p>On the other side of Ravnica, Jace Beleren was contemplating yet another petty crisis between the Boros Legion and House Dimir. Apparently several of the soldiers had been found assassinated and both sides were pointing fingers. He'd spent the last hour listening to their guild representatives snipe one another and finally dismissed them to consider the matter. As a result he had a headache, but he drafted down a brief ruling and sent it off by messenger before lying down to sleep it off.<p>

Of course the instant he tried to relax, his thoughts immediately returned to the incredible sex he'd had the day before and he was hard. Now he had a headache _and _he was frustrated. Perfect. He reviewed his options and quickly decided since he had no intention of seeing the girl again so soon, if ever, he'd have to deal with his immediate problem himself. With a sigh he reached down and unfastened his pants. He closed his eyes and deliberately thought about Lorissa, how hot and wet she'd been, how she clawed at him and screamed for him and begged him for more. The reaction was intense, the culmination immediate. His eyes flew open in disbelief as he stared at the mess he'd made on the bed. He hadn't gotten off that fast from masturbating since he was barely a teenager.

What power did she have over him? Why did she turn him on so much? It was illogical and Jace refused to be controlled by his lust for her. Even though he'd told her they might meet again, he had no intention of making that happen now. He had no room in his life for an affair, especially with a woman who might be able to consume him if he didn't watch his step. He'd already been down that road once before and it led to nothing but trouble. He'd made promises to himself about how he'd conduct himself around women, how much trust he'd put in them as well as how close he'd allow them to get. His past was riddled with betrayals and he wasn't in any hurry to forget the lessons he'd learned quite bitterly.

The women he currently associated with on a personal level were all kept at a safe distance emotionally and psychologically. He'd share dinner, laughs and a bed with them but nothing more than that. Often they didn't even know what he really looked like, he had a face set aside for those meetings for discretion's sake. He preferred to come and go as he pleased, it was much easier to do when he was wearing a different appearance.

There were other things in his life that mattered more to him. Knowledge and magic had always been his strongest passions and while he'd been burned out by many of the events he had seen over the last several years, he still had a love of learning. He also held a position of incredible responsibility on Ravnica for the time being, one that took up most of his spare time and energy. He was content with his life for the moment, he didn't need anyone coming along and disrupting it.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: ****This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>A month later Lorissa was making her way to New Prahv to visit her mother, a high ranking advisor to Isperia. Salinda deCar had joined the Azorius Senate when she was just a teenager and had made her way up through the ranks over the years due to her shrewd judgments and calm deliberations under pressure. She was now one of only a handful of people who had the ear of the sphinx directly and wielded tremendous influence in her own right, but she had irreproachable scruples when it came to playing by the rules. She also tended to work well past normal hours, which was probably where Lorissa got her own work ethic from. Tonight Salinda had missed dinner yet again and Lorissa's father Nostav asked her to go and fetch her mother so they could have a family meal. He assumed, rightly, that feelings of motherly guilt would be more persuasive than wifely guilt.<p>

As Lorissa turned a corner leading to the entrance of New Prahv, she was stunned to find herself nearly face to face with the man she had been alternately fantasizing and being furious about. Jace was leaving the building accompanied by two ladies. One of them she recognized as an associate of her mother's by the name of Lavinia. She was a tall, beautiful, serious woman known as a fierce arrester in Azorius. The other woman was an elf, ethereally lovely with long golden hair. Lorissa couldn't hold a candle to either of them and she felt a pang in her chest when she realized how comfortable Jace looked walking between the two women. He was dressed in his outlandish blue clothing with its unusual flashing insignia and he looked too handsome to be real.

He was engaged in deep conversation with the elf and hadn't noticed her, but Lavinia spotted her and called out a greeting, drawing his attention in Lorissa's direction. An almost comical expression of disbelief flashed over his face and he stopped speaking in midsentence. The elf glanced at him in surprise before turning to see what he was staring at. A bemused smile crossed her countenance and then she made a small remark to Jace that drew his gaze back to her, his features now carefully blank.

Given the choice, Lorissa would have turned and run but to do so would have been terribly rude after Lavinia had greeted her. She was not about to slight a compatriot of her mother. So she fought down the urge to flee and pasted on a smile.

"Lorissa what are you doing over here? I thought you spent all of your time poring over tomes for that mad dragon you call liege," the arrester teased her, drawing startled looks from her companions, who were only used to seeing the more serious side of the woman.

"Funny milady," Lorissa retorted. "I'm here to collect my mother. Father is pining away for her while she slaves over plans for your own illustrious taskmaster lord."

Lavinia smiled broadly at her, waving her companions to go ahead of her. Jace and the elf moved a polite distance away to wait, the woman clearly fascinated by their exchange but Jace deliberately looking in another direction. "So he sent you rather than trying to oust Salinda himself? A wise man."

Lorissa shrugged. "You know he prefers strategizing on a battlefield to trading wits. And too he said it would be harder for mother to tell me no. I haven't had dinner with them in weeks."

Lavinia laughed and nodded. "That would do it. Tell Salinda I will see her in the morning. Give my regards to your father."

"I will," Lorissa replied as Lavinia rejoined her companions. The three of them continued on their way, Jace not bothering to look back or acknowledge he knew her.

For a moment blind rage roared through her. How dare he act like such a cad? But then she reminded herself they were strangers who had nothing more between them than a one night stand. She'd given up on ever seeing him again weeks ago. He knew where she was employed but she had no way of finding him. Clearly he hadn't wanted to see her since he'd never bothered visiting. Her life was back to its normal peaceful self and that was the way she needed it for now. If she ever wanted to move up in the Izzet League she had to devote herself completely to her work.

She had joined the League because she wished to make a name for herself by her own merit. Science and magic had always fascinated her and the Izzet combined both. Although they were certainly known to the Magewrights, neither of her parents had any influence in the guild, which had been the deciding factor for Lorissa's wish to join. She had put in time and dedication with a vengeance and she had already gained the notice of a few high rankings wizards as well as the Dracogenius himself on occasion. She still had no idea why the dragon sought her out to make small talk late at night, other than it amused him to listen to mortal woes as a way of distracting himself from his own issues. She loved working in the library but suspected assisting with projects in any of the labs in Nivix would be equally enjoyable.

She had no time for men in her life.

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><p>Jace was supposed to be telling Emmara about his opinion of the latest Selesnyan conservation effort in conjunction with the Gruul, but his train of thought had been completely derailed by the unexpected appearance of Lorissa. It had taken a concerted effort on his part to put the woman from his mind over the past month, even with the seemingly endless string of issues he had to deal with concerning the guilds. He hadn't been completely successful as she still managed to appear in his dreams with alarming frequency.<p>

He hadn't counted upon ever seeing her again, so he wasn't even remotely capable of hiding his reaction when he looked up and saw her outside of New Prahv. He would never have expected to run across her in such a place, considering she was a member of the Izzet League. However her conversation with Lavinia let him know her mother was a very influential member of the Azorius Senate since the arrester called her by name and in light of that news it wasn't so surprising to see her there. That still didn't make it any easier for him.

All his endeavors to banish her from his thoughts were ruined in a heartbeat. That one look at her had made several things obvious. First, compared to Emmara she was merely pretty with her dark hair and eyes and delicate curves. Second, that clearly didn't matter because he got aroused the very instant he laid eyes on her. Third, he wasn't going to be able to get her out of his head for the rest of the evening and because of that he was fairly certain he'd make bad judgments. He was going to have to reschedule his meetings for the following day.

It didn't make matters any better that he'd seen her again while he was with Emmara. He'd had deep feelings for the elf in the past and while she'd loved another and Jace had even wiped her mind at her request, some of those emotions remained. His initial shock upon seeing Lorissa had been tinged with panic, he didn't want the two women meeting for reasons he didn't care to examine too closely. Unfortunately the elf had taken note of his reaction to the girl and teasingly told him, "So you _are _aware of the opposite sex. It's been so long since I've seen you react to a woman, I'd begun to wonder."

He'd immediately schooled his face into a neutral expression and told Emmara that he knew the brunette through Niv-Mizzet so he was startled to see her at New Prahv. The blonde had given him a look that said she didn't really believe him, so he was compelled to ignore Lorissa's presence to allay suspicion. It had been quite difficult not to look at her again, his body was humming with awareness at her proximity. He could smell her from where he was standing and it was excruciating trying to fight off an erection. In the end he only half succeeded, so he was forced to draw his cloak forward over his shoulders to hide the evidence of his desire. That was twice now she'd made such an action necessary, one for each meeting. His inability to control himself only served as a reminder of why he'd decided to avoid her in the first place.

Once Lavinia rejoined them, Jace escorted the ladies off the Senate grounds, every step he took in the opposite direction of Lorissa had his body shrieking at him to turn around and go get her. He ruthlessly ignored the compulsion. Lavinia took her leave of them and he accompanied Emmara back to Vitu-Ghazi. The entire time he wondered where Lorissa was at. Where did her parents live? Obviously her father wasn't a member of the Azorius Senate, the way Lorissa described him it sounded as if he might be part of the Boros Legion. How had her parents maintained a relationship being from different guilds and even allowed their daughter to join yet a third one?

Emmara made polite small talk but when they parted ways she placed a hand on his arm to draw his attention and said, "You should really go look her up."

Before he could protest, she was gone. He stood there for a moment, astonished she'd been able to read him so well when he'd been doing his best to be nonchalant. They had known one another a long time but he thought he'd been clever enough to disguise his preoccupied state. She was wrong of course, he shouldn't go after Lorissa. His life was complicated under normal circumstances, more so now that he was a sort of leader for the collective guilds. He had minimal spare time and even setting aside his busy schedule, the truth was he was a man who liked his freedom. He planeswalked at a moment's notice and too he had a legion of enemies that were a danger to everyone around him. He wasn't going to even think about his terrible luck with the ladies in general.

He had no time for women in his life.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>Lorissa was able to convince her mother to leave work with ease. Salinda's face broke into a smile the second she saw her only daughter enter the upper offices of New Prahv. They didn't get to see each other often since both were busy with work. After a quick greeting and exchange of hugs, the two women were on their way. As they departed many people called out greetings to her mother, who was popular due to her equally kind and fair nature. She responded with smiles and waves for even the lowest ranked members of the Senate. Salinda was telling Lorissa about her day, her face animated with excitement. Her mother was lucky enough to actually love her job and it showed.<p>

The two were so deep in conversation as they made their way outside, neither of them saw Jace waiting in the shadows of the entrance to New Prahv. He was upon them before either woman knew it, grasping Lorissa's arm with one hand while simultaneously planting a suggestion into Salinda's mind to simply head home and wait for her daughter there. Lorissa jumped in surprise as he pulled her around into the shadows to face him and Salinda walked away, unaware of what was transpiring.

Lorissa was stunned to see him there. After their earlier encounter where he didn't bother to acknowledge her, she'd assumed he was out of her life. She'd assured herself it was for the better, she didn't need the attentions of a fickle man and her position in the League was growing steadily busier. She was distinctly confused to see him there now but she was determined to behave normally and with civility since they were on the doorstep of her mother's guild. "What are you doing here? If you're looking for Lavinia, she hasn't returned since she left with you. I'm certain she's gone for the day."

Jace had no idea what he was doing. Oh, he realized he was there for Lorissa, but it went against everything he'd been telling himself for the past month. After he'd seen her today he'd convinced himself it was better to keep her out of his life, and yet even as he came to that conclusion his feet had carried him back to where he knew she'd be. He was clearly at war with himself and he had no clue which side was going to win. To cover his confusion he tried to be suave. "I realize that, I just thought I should apologize for not greeting you earlier. I was here for business and thought it would be rude to socialize."

Yet Lavinia had stopped to do just that and they both knew it, the unspoken thought hanging on the air between them. It was a dismal attempt to cover his dismissal of her, but it was an apology nonetheless and she got the feeling he didn't apologize often. Why was he even bothering to make the effort? He hadn't tried to see her since their initial tryst and she didn't delude herself into thinking she meant anything to him. She decided to downplay his current gesture. "Thanks but you needn't worry about it. It's not like we're friends. Now if you're finished, I really have to get going. My parents are expecting me for dinner and my mother is probably waiting for me around the corner."

Jace could have told her Salinda had left, but he was too irritated by her indifferent attitude. His hand burned where it held her arm, however she seemed completely oblivious to his touch. Unacceptable. He reached out with his other hand and tangled it in her hair, tilting her head back so her brown eyes met his blue ones, forcing her to hold his gaze. "I'm nowhere near through with you," he snapped, his breath fanning over her lips.

Jace prided himself on being oh so clever and in control, but he'd never been smart when it came to women. He was going to kiss her there, at the entrance to New Prahv, common sense be damned. She saw his intentions and tried to break free, but he was stronger, so she said, "What are you doing? We'll be seen!"

He gave a soft laugh and said, "Oh will we?"

Then he negligently waved his hand and the shadows around them seemed to thicken and advance, weaving a wall of darkness around them that would look like nothing out of the ordinary to a passerby. Lorissa's eyes widened as she realized how much skill and power it would take to make such an effective illusion. He'd created it without batting an eye, he was far more powerful than she'd realized. It shouldn't have surprised her, since Niv-Mizzet had been willing to give the man a spell from the vault. She just hadn't given any thought to the matter because she'd been so distracted by her attraction to him. There were many dangerous beings in Ravnica and she found herself wondering if she shouldn't see him again for her safety as well as her peace of mind. Then he kissed her and all thoughts were lost.

It was so good, far better than he remembered. It made him want to tear off her clothes and slide inside her. Kissing was by nature a gratifying undertaking, arousing in a subtle way. He normally took his time with it, reading his partner's mind to see what they liked and then catering to their desires. He couldn't focus enough to do that now, all he could think about was how sweet she tasted and how every stroke of his tongue over hers made need race through his veins.

Lorissa's arms twined around Jace's neck as she leaned into him, completely overcome by that initial drugging kiss. He knew how to use his mouth and tongue so very well and she couldn't remember a single reason why this was probably a terrible mistake. He recognized the gesture as an acquiescence and stepped back further into the shadows of the enormous entryway until his back connected with a pillar. He tightened his arms around her, drawing her so close that her breasts were crushed into his chest and they could feel the thundering of one another's hearts. He lifted her up so they were eye to eye, loving the way he could so easily move her around, her tiny frame making him feel overtly masculine and protective at the same time. He slid a palm down her back and pressed her hips into his so she could feel his hard on. Her eyelids slipped lower and she rubbed herself against him, biting her lip at the sexual pleasure the motion caused. He felt visceral lust tear at him at her sensual display.

They stared at one another under the cover of the shadows and his illusion, both of them knowing how precariously close they were to losing control. The proper thing to do would be stop this now before things went any further but neither one of them moved. The silence stretched out between them, every second that passed the tension rose. He was throbbing against her but he didn't move, arguing with himself that he had to put an end to this and get the hell out of there. She was thinking that this guy hadn't bothered to talk to her for weeks and now she was just falling into his arms. Didn't she have any self respect? Was she really that easy?

Jace shifted his hips to get more support from the pillar behind him and that proved to be the breaking point for them as it rocked him against her pubic bone in an identical gesture to the one she'd performed before. The delicious sensation that passed through them both overrode any lingering common sense or caution. They kissed again, this time with absolute abandon, mouths slanting and tongues dancing as her legs came up to wrap around his waist. He slipped an arm under her ass and cupped one side to support her weight so she'd be more comfortable. Lorissa ran her hand down his chest and then thumped on the armor. "I want to _feel _you."

He let out a shaky laugh but before he could speak she reached down between their bodies, under the sash on his belt and dragged her fingers up the straining length of his shaft. Her touch was like fire, even with his clothes on. The air left his body in a rush, whistling out between his clenched teeth. She put her lips to his ear and said, "Give it to me," in such a voice of longing he felt it in his balls. She didn't have to tell him twice. He took her right there, the initial pleasure so intense he arched back and smacked his head against the stone. It was so vivid he once again found it impossible to concentrate enough to last, bringing them both mutual satisfaction in minutes.

Jace slumped back against the pillar, aware of the sting of sweat in his eyes and the back of his head where he'd hit it earlier. His pants were around his ankles and there were rocks on the ground biting into the backs of his thighs and his butt. He was roasting inside his chest armor, the exertion causing him to radiate heat. None of it mattered, he was sated to the point of lethargy. But even as his body sang its bliss his brain was yelling at him for sleeping with her again. He forced himself to open his eyes when he felt her shift to slide off his lap.

Lorissa was still fully clothed, her skirt bunched around her waist and her panties twisted to one side. Her slender thighs were glistening with the combined fluid from their intercourse and even as he watched she used the edge of a skirt to wipe herself off. Just behind her he could see the outline of the illusionary shadows he'd cast, and he realized at some point during sex his focus had slipped and the illusion had almost vanished. As it was, they would be seen by anyone looking in their direction, although any onlookers wouldn't be able to distinguish features. And he was certain he hadn't thought to dampen sound in the area so anyone could have heard her get off. He shook his head in disgust at himself, it wasn't like him to be so careless. She really did make him act like a fool, but he was more angry with himself for allowing it.

"That was..." Jace paused, searching for the right words.

Unbelievable and unforgettable were two Lorissa would choose to say herself. Her thighs and back were sore from the strength of his body, her clothes a wreck and her hair a snarled mass but she didn't care. She felt amazing. He might be an arrogant jerk but he knew how to rock her world. She wasn't ready to overlook his previous callous behavior but she was well on her way to considering it.

"Unforgiveable," he went on, utterly ruining any beneficent thoughts she was having. "I had no intention of that happening, I apologize."

And then he was gone, just blinked out of there without another word. It was the second time he'd done that to her. He raised the bar on running away.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>Six weeks later, Lorissa's life was anything but boring. She'd gotten an indirect promotion in the guild. Her frequent visits from Niv-Mizzet had drawn the attention of higher ranking mages in the League and as a result one had offered her a position in his lab. The work was part time and mostly consisted of her fetching items needed for experiments. But Tabozav was an archmage so he could have told her to clean his house and she might have done it. A position as his assistant was an incredible advancement, even if she was only helping half the day and doing menial tasks.<p>

Her evenings were still spent in the library, and the Firemind still had an unsettling habit of popping in on her. She was convinced he only visited her because he knew it made her uneasy. That wasn't to say she didn't enjoy his company. He was, of course, the most brilliant being she'd ever spoken to and the conversations they had were always enlightening. But she was more interested in the sheer number of stories he'd accrued over the centuries. She probably appealed to the dragon's vanity with her endless requests for tales from his past, but any being who had been around over fifteen thousand years was definitely worth pestering for information. She had always been fascinated by history and he had an almost endless supply of it.

Unfortunately he always had questions for her as well and they usually had to do with her personal life. He asked about her family, friends, boyfriends. Two out of three she could tell him about, albeit reluctantly. He was quite intrigued by the fact that her relatives were members of so many different guilds. As usual she had no boyfriend to speak of so that subject was quickly exhausted every time he brought it up. She had no idea why he wanted to know about her life, unless it was to simply hear about a human's activities. The dragon was a researcher first and foremost, she'd never understand how his ancient mind worked.

It was rather embarrassing having to admit she was still single. She wasn't even getting laid on a frequent basis. She hadn't been with anyone since the disastrous, mind blowing quickie with Jace at New Prahv. He had once again vanished and she was mad enough at him that she didn't even care. He was such a selfish bastard, showing up to take what he wanted and then making her feel terrible for giving it to him. He'd had the gall to tell her what they'd done was unacceptable, after the fact of course. Thinking about it still made her want to hit him in the face. If she never saw him again it wouldn't hurt her feelings at all.

None of this changed the fact he was still the most magnetic, sexy man she'd ever met in her life and he gave her pleasure unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. Part of her was worried if she saw him she'd forgive him the minute he touched her. After all it had happened once already. Granted her list of grievances with him had been shorter but she really shouldn't have just fallen into his arms last time. Besides the obvious disaster at the end of the encounter with him, she'd been late for dinner and her parents had grilled her about her tardy appearance. Her mother had no memory of seeing Jace outside of New Prahv which Lorissa found distinctly odd. Telling the truth was out of the question, but she made her lie as close to it as possible, saying she ran into someone she knew on the street and lost track of time.

The only good thing about the rendezvous, besides the fantastic sex of course, was no one had seen them. The illusion he'd cast had more or less disintegrated by the time they finished and it was an incredible stroke of luck they hadn't been spotted by anyone. Well as far as she knew. She wasn't a member of the Senate but she realized if anyone had seen them the news would have reached her mother's ears and Salinda would have definitely torn into her about it. As an only girl she'd been raised with some pretty strict guidelines. To be fair she usually followed them, it was just Jace who seemed to be able to make her so insensate. And if her mother knew, her brothers would too. She could just imagine the wrath of the cleric twins. They could lay on the guilt as well as her mother and with a good deal harsher language. She didn't even want to consider what her father would do. The Boros guildmage would probably take to the streets searching for Jace.

Thinking of her brothers reminded her that she was supposed to meet up with Peyrn and Pardic to go over plans for her parents' upcoming anniversary. She finished her filing in the library and charted out her list of chores to do for Tabozav in the morning before heading over to the Church of Deals. She decided to stop by her place and feed Nix in case planning with her brothers ran late. It seemed likely if only because they often got stuck at work, which was why she was meeting them there in the first place. The Pride lion was overjoyed to see her as usual, and during their normal play session he accidentally tore her skirt so she changed out of her work clothes into a dress. At work she liked to look conservative in order to be taken seriously, but on her own time she looked much more feminine. This dress was a vibrant blue and had a sweetheart neckline held up by delicate spaghetti straps with an empire waist that accented her tiny size. The skirt fell to the knee in a perfectly proper fashion, but the material was translucent enough to show a dim outline of her legs. She slid on a pair of pretty wedge sandals that tied around her ankles with ribbons and then set off to meet her brothers.

When she got to the church she was greeted by a friend of Pardic who was nice enough to escort her to where her brothers were standing guard that night. The two big blond men grinned when they saw her approaching, Pardic exchanged pleasantries with his coworker while Peyrn crushed her in a bear hug.

"Little sister you clean up nice," he teased her.

Lorissa beamed at him before swatting his cheek. "Is this your way of trying to butter me up before giving me bad news?"

"The champion's meeting is running late," Pardic said as he gave her a hug of greeting as well.

"Lucky for you I figured something like this would happen," she replied, digging a notepad out of the purse she was carrying. "Let's go over a list of locations for the party."

The two men exchanged pained glances but there was no way she was going to let them out of helping her with the planning. She forced them to drag a small table over by the entryway they were posted at, then sat down at it and began making lists of people to invite, food to order and gift ideas. The twins contributed more than she thought they would, but they were bored guarding the door to the inner sanctum chamber and grateful for the distraction. A couple of hours had passed when that same door swung open and Teysa Karlov walked out. Peyrn and Pardic snapped to attention immediately, but she waved at them to stand down and turned to look at Lorissa.

"I presume you know these two, or you never would have gotten this close to the door," Teysa said, referring to the fact that the twins were fearsome battle clerics more than capable of taking down a girl her size.

"They're my brothers," she answered, earning a smile from the other woman who was clearly amused how a tiny brunette could be related to the two towering blonds.

"Well they're off duty as of now," Teysa commented before continuing on her way out the door. "But they'll have to pay for the visit at some point."

It was only then that Lorissa got a look at the person exiting behind the Orzhov champion. He loomed out of the shadows as impossibly handsome as ever, dressed in his customary cape and armor, the sigils gleaming in the dim interior. He was studying a parchment in his hands and in spite of her resolve to keep away from him she couldn't resist drinking in the sight of him while he was distracted. His broad shoulders made her knees weak, the way the chest plate conformed to his torso reminding her of the athletic shape underneath. The belt circling his narrow waist held up the sash that hid the instrument of her demise but she could still see it in her memory so she quickly glanced down the length of his sleekly muscled legs. His tall, lean form made her fingers itch to touch every inch of him. She had to get out of there before he knew she was there. She returned her gaze to his face at the same time he looked up to check his surroundings.

His eyes locked on her and he came to a complete stop as he slowly lowered the paper he was holding. He didn't seem surprised to see her, instead his expression was almost resigned as if their meeting was inevitable.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>Jace was used to his share of action but his new role as Guildpact on Ravnica was turning out to be more than even he could handle. It seemed like there was a representative from the guilds under his feet every second of the day. He couldn't turn around without finding someone waiting to get his opinion about a life or death matter. It seemed like <em>everything <em>was life or death.

He was normally a very private man who enjoyed solitude so he could work on creating new spells but at the moment he never had any time to himself. He hadn't had the opportunity to fully devote his attention to an experiment in weeks. As annoying as he found this fact, he was still divided about his election for the position. The power was certainly alluring, he was part of nearly every major decision the guilds made and they consistently consulted him before taking any actions. His ego was understandably enticed by that kind of influence. He also felt this was his penance in a way. He had done many terrible things in his young life and while he couldn't remember them all in part thanks to his own magic he knew he had much to make up for. Being forced to fairly mediate between the guilds was payback for the balance he owed. He also had allies and friends on Ravnica such as Emmara that he felt compelled to help.

Thinking of the blonde elf still made him somewhat sad but he had noticed lately that the feelings were far less intense and had more to do with the loss of her memory about their friendship. He hardly thought about the way he'd been distraught to discover she had a special someone in her life. Rather he remembered how disappointed she was he betrayed her by not telling her of his true nature. He assumed this change of feelings on his part was due to time passing and being too busy to dwell on things of a personal nature.

Which wasn't to say that Jace found himself free of thoughts of Lorissa. Memories of her plagued him at the most inconvenient times. One of the worst occurred during a meeting between him and Lavinia a week after the embarrassing loss of control he'd suffered from at New Prahv. They were congregating to look over plans for a new bill to be drafted regarding property entailment by the deceased. It was the first time he'd been back to the building since that day and as he approached the entrance his eyes were instantly drawn to the pillar where he'd dragged Lorissa to for their rendezvous. He was able to remember everything with startling clarity: the way she told him to give it to her echoing in his ears as he reached up to absently touch the spot on his neck where she'd bitten him after he'd told her to come. When he'd first gotten home and seen the bruise on his skin he'd been torn between being irritated over being branded and turned on by how forceful she'd been. The mark she'd left on him was starting to fade but the memory of it wasn't. He'd gotten an erection that had lasted through half his meeting with Lavinia to his chagrin.

That was when he decided he had to do something about the predicament he found himself in. He'd be damned if he was going to pine over some girl he barely knew. He was not going to let himself be controlled by desire. Certainly not lust over a woman who was not even close to being his equal in capability. She was a librarian for crying out loud. If he was going to get hung up on a female he'd rather it be someone like Liliana Vess. That had been understandable because she was as powerful as she was voluptuous. Any man could be brought to his knees by a woman like that. He wasn't going to be under the influence of a slender little girl most men wouldn't fall for at first glance. He had a reputation to maintain.

He'd seduced a few women to try and clear his head. He'd assumed indulging in sex would help erase her power over him. Unfortunately things hadn't gone as planned. His mind instinctively skipped those embarrassing recollections for the moment. After that he just immersed himself in projects to drive thoughts of her away. It seemed to be working quite well during the day, he was constantly going from one meeting to the next with various guild representatives so his mind had little time to wander.

The evenings were another story. Even though it was invariably late when he got home, he found himself wondering where Lorissa was instead of seeing to his own experiments. When he realized what he was doing he'd grow irritated with himself and plunge into the crafting of his memory storage phylactery. He'd finally managed to find all of the ingredients for a successful casting and was starting to painstakingly assemble the spell step by step. It was a sophisticated procedure that required absolute concentration, any distractions would result in failure. It was exhausting work and he could only complete small portions at a time. It had taken him weeks and he was about halfway through the process now.

This morning he'd set out a pile of ingredients he needed for the next stage of the spell before heading into the first of an endless series of meetings for the day. He hadn't planned on being out quite so long but his conference with the Orzhov ran late. It was well into the evening by the time business was finished up and he was reviewing a list of amendments to work on for the proposed entailment law when he thought he heard the sound of Lorissa's voice. Absurd. What would she be doing in the Church of Deals, let alone at this time of night? He had to be imagining things. Again. He was starting to think she never left his mind but just hovered in the background waiting for a lapse in his concentration. Then he caught the faintest scent that triggered a graphic memory of being buried deep inside her while her hair fluttered across his face and he knew. Jace raised his eyes from the forgotten list and stared at the woman who seemed to be haunting him.

Lorissa was just standing up when their eyes met. She'd obviously seen him first and he suspected she was in the process of running away when he spotted her. Given their history he decided that was wise of her. But then he got a look at what she was wearing and lost his train of thought. Before he'd only ever seen her in rather boring clothes that weren't particularly flattering. Now she was dressed in a wisp of a dark blue dress that made her skin glow and complimented the dainty lines of her body. She looked like a delicious little nymph, the skirt swirling around her thighs see through enough to get a glimpse of the shape of her curves without being too revealing. It was rather riveting actually, as if looking hard enough might show him the skin he was hoping to see. She had lovely legs and was wearing some frothy ribbon sandals that twined around trim ankles. Not so unremarkable after all. He felt his muscles tense as desire swirled through him, searing heat settling in his groin as he grew aroused.

Then he noticed the two lumbering blond men behind her scowling in his direction and managed to stop leering at her. He inclined his head at her in greeting, knowing to not acknowledge her would be suspicious after he'd just stared at her so long. "Good evening Lorissa."

She arched an eyebrow at him in disbelief. Just like that, huh? Then again her brothers were here and she could understand his desire for discretion. She definitely didn't want them to know about him. "Hello Jace," she gestured at the men behind her. "These are my brothers Peyrn and Pardic."

Of course her brothers were battle clerics for the Orzhov, it made as much sense as the rest of her family's odd guild memberships. It also explained why she was there. He felt like asking her how many relatives she had, and if the family had a member in every guild on Ravnica. He thought that might sound too rude though. He settled for nodding at the two men in greeting before turning back to Lorissa and saying, "Until next time then."

And he made himself walk around her. He could hardly do otherwise with her brothers there even though his body was entering a distinctly frustrated state. Walking down that hall away from her was incredibly grueling, which only further angered him. The last six weeks had been difficult enough, he wasn't about to let himself regress.

Lorissa watched him leave, torn between disappointment and relief. Her body was singing with awareness from that brief encounter with him. She could feel her breasts were swollen and was glad she'd chosen to wear such a dark colored dress which made that fact less obvious. Her eyes traced the movements of his hips as he walked, the cape swirling with each step, and remembered how skillfully he'd used those hips to bring them both to mutual pleasure. She almost fanned herself before she recalled she had an audience. What was she thinking? She had to forget about that man, he was not for her. She turned and gave her brothers a bright smile. "Shall we go home?"


	9. Chapter 9

**/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>By the time Jace arrived at his house he was furious. He was disgusted with himself getting turned on by Lorissa so easily. She hadn't even done anything to make him this way, his body just seemed out of control around her. He was aching by this point, he'd hoped he could walk it off but that hadn't worked. It was like seeing her again after so many weeks had torn something open inside him. He craved her the second he saw her and his mind couldn't shut it off this time. He was so hard he was in pain. He was going to have to get off. Well, he was not going to masturbate while thinking about her. He could manage that small a victory he told himself. He closed his eyes and tried to picture Emmara, Liliana, anyone else but the only thing he could see was an image of him pushing Lorissa back down on that table she'd been standing by, flipping her skirt up and taking her right there.<p>

Cursing, he flung himself into the washing room, turning the cold water on full blast and jumping into the stream. He felt the power of his favored element washing over him, frigid and soothing at once, helping to calm his wild urges. He stayed under the freezing deluge until his teeth were chattering. His clothes were drenched, another thing for him to be pissed about. At least his erection was gone. With a sigh he shut off the water, went into his bedroom and changed into a comfortable robe and pants.

He glanced at the door to his work room, trying to decide if he had the necessary focus for completing the next step of the spell. As he considered it, another image of Lorissa came to him, this time when he first saw her in Niv-Mizzet's library at the beginning of all this. Who could have known such an innocent would so easily disrupt his world?

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><p>Lorissa had a nice time visiting with her parents, especially since her brothers hadn't said a word to her about Jace although she had the feeling they wanted to. They probably didn't wish to bring anything up in front of their father, who was very protective of his little girl. Dinner was delicious as always, her father had quite a way with fire and he loved to cook. Salinda was only too happy to let Nostav do it since she was generally in charge of the kitchen. It was rare the five of them got to be together, so it was early morning before Lorissa found herself finally getting home. Nix was exhausted, she'd stopped by to pick him up since she knew she'd be at her parents' house late. The great cat had been a present from them ostensibly, though she knew it really came from her mother. They'd given him to her when he was a cub, about the time she moved out on her own. He was a terrific deterrent to people on the street but that had been the point she was sure. She got Nix some fresh water, then took a quick shower and climbed into bed.<p>

It had been a long day, she should have been exhausted. Instead she kept thinking about how hot Jace had looked at the Church of Deals. Every time she had just about got him out of her head, he showed up again. At this rate she was never going to get over the arrogant man. In the meantime she was going to have to do something about the hollow sensation between her legs. She closed her eyes and pictured him while she pleasured herself. She'd touched herself while thinking about him before, but she'd never allowed herself to actually use his name. It just seemed too pathetic considering he had never wanted her in the frantic way she wanted him. But tonight she let herself indulge, moaning _Jace _in the heat of the moment.

Miles away, he heard her mental cry of his name like the crack of a whip. It shattered his concentration, utterly ruining the culmination of the memory storage spell he'd been working on for weeks. At the moment he didn't care, he was instantly on fire because the way she'd panted out his name left no doubt what she was doing.

For weeks he had carefully avoided her, aware she was becoming an obsession. He wanted her with a passion that was consuming him and he couldn't allow it. He'd tried sleeping with a few women to get her out of his head and the results had been disastrous. One time he'd accidentally called a woman by her name, another time he hadn't been able to stay hard without closing his eyes and thinking about her. After that he'd opted for celibacy until the madness subsided. Unfortunately it lingered on, growing worse as time passed. Running into one another that evening had struck a devastating blow to the defenses he'd built up. Now, her call to him unleashed the desire he'd been fighting for what felt like an eternity.

He grasped onto the threads of her thoughts and followed them, racing out of his lab and across town at a reckless pace. He'd never been to her home but he found it with ease, however he was dismayed to find her front door was locked. He nearly put his foot through it before he recovered enough sanity to recall he could simply teleport inside. He thought he heard growling as he made his way through the living room but he didn't care, he kept moving forward until he was in her bedroom.

Lorissa was just winding down when Jace materialized by her bed as if conjured by her fantasies. He stared down at her with eyes so dark they were nearly black. She started to sit up, startled, but he shoved her hand out of the way, grabbed her by the hips and dragged her to the edge of the mattress. He used his mouth to bring her bliss, reveling in the sounds she made. He'd done this for other partners before, but he'd never been aroused by it outside of their enjoyment. Jace was always good with his mouth and now was no exception she dimly realized.

The moment she finished, Jace was on his feet in an instant, pulling at his pants, throwing his belt to the floor. This time she was the one to slap his hands away as she freed him and returned the pleasure he'd given her. It was so good and he was ready to lose it already. He stepped away and she blinked up at him until he pushed her onto her back and climbed onto the bed over her before dropping his face down between her thighs once more, they reached ecstasy simultaneously. He almost fell on top of her in the aftermath, he was nearly without strength. He rolled to one side of her, an arm thrown over his eyes, and tried to absorb the enormity of what he'd just done. Not only had he failed to keep his promise to himself to stay away from her, he'd practically broken into her house chasing the trail of her thoughts without her knowledge or permission.

Lorissa turned on her side to face him, hyper aware of the fact the man she'd been daydreaming about for months was actually here in her bed. How was the question. She'd never told him where she lived and for that matter, how had he even known she was home, let alone masturbating. "Jace, how did you-"

"Next time we do this slow," he muttered, cutting her off before she could get any further. "And naked."

"Next time," she demanded incredulously, but he was gone. The bastard had actually bounced out on her again! She shrieked and threw her pillow at the spot he'd just vacated. Moments later an answering roar came from her living room an instant before Nix crashed through her bedroom door, splintering the wood with ease. The cat's ears were pinned back, his mane bristled as he protectively lunged to her side. She had completely forgotten about her beloved pet.

"Some guard you turned out to be," she scolded him, wincing at how much it was going to cost her to replace that door. Then the ridiculousness of the situation set in and made her laugh, and as she reached down to scratch his ears in reassurance she saw the belt Jace had discarded earlier. It was the second one he'd left in her possession, she was starting to have a collection of them.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>The following weeks passed by in a blur for Lorissa. Tabozav had initially hired her for his lab due to her seeming closeness with Niv-Mizzet but now he actually valued her opinion and work. He complimented her shrewd mind, but he did tend to bemoan her lack of magic in front of her face which could be disconcerting and annoying. She reminded herself that he was both powerful and dedicated to his craft, neither trait served to teach a person tact. The mage had been in a high ranking position long enough to develop an indifference about how he conducted himself since very few people in the League could actually take him to task. He asked her to assist him with increasingly intricate projects, sometimes even over other magic users. She took this as high praise, albeit unspoken. She was also learning a great deal about using the water and fire elements combined. Her father had used fire as far back as she could remember and her mother had used water so she had a solid understanding of the elements individually but not how to set up spells to entwine them since they were opposing forces. Although she couldn't use magic she could still do research on the subject and groundwork for those more talented.<p>

She still worked in the library during the evenings, but Tabozav was keeping her later every week as he placed more trust in her. She probably could have switched out of her job as an archive but she genuinely enjoyed working hands on with the spells of the League. Most people would find the task tedious, but she had an appreciation for knowledge and history so for her sorting through the ancient writings was an enjoyable undertaking. She had seen everything from rat removal to life lengthening scrolls in the course of a single day. For her it was fascinating and she appreciated the fact she was able to peruse the spells at leisure.

Every now and then Niv-Mizzet stopped in for a late night talk. It was impossible to predict when the Dracogenius would visit, but on one occasion he remarked on the amount of time she'd been spending with Tabozav so he was aware of her whereabouts. This surprised her, as guildmaster she'd think he'd be too busy to notice the comings and goings of a low ranking member. She didn't think he cared, but assured him her work load was perfectly acceptable anyway. He still asked his invasive questions about her personal life, she still answered as evasively as possible. Not that it was hard to do, she basically had no personal life.

After Jace had disappeared on her for the third time, Lorissa'd decided she needed to start dating because she couldn't keep making such irrational decisions involving him all the time. If she was seeing someone he wouldn't be nearly as tempting. Well, he probably would but her morals would keep her in check. However actually meeting someone turned out to be a problem. For one thing, she more or less worked two jobs almost every day. For another, the people in her guild knew she had no magical talents and consequently had no interest in dating her. She wasn't unappealing but she didn't know how to act in a fashion that attracted men, so even when she tried going to local taverns to meet people she struck out. She had a very bad habit of wanting to discuss work, or things of a more serious nature in general and that seemed to put a lot of men off. She just couldn't force herself to discuss inane subjects, it bored her too much. Her father and brothers would rather murder any man who looked at her instead of setting her up and she wasn't even going to mention it to her mother, who would try to marry her off to the first suitable man she could find.

She did have two very close friends that she could go out with, but they were both gorgeous and vivacious so she constantly got overlooked in their presence. Nataja was tall, blond and audacious. Aksara had long red hair, a body men would kill for and knew how to flirt money right out of their pockets. Compared to them she was frumpy and quiet, but she didn't mind really because she loved them dearly and they were such a blast to hang out with. It just didn't help further her goal. Unfortunately this all added up to her being alone, even after a few weeks of actively looking. Maybe she should just try a more direct approach, offer a man something less permanent but still serious enough to be a suitable deterrent from her jumping into bed with Jace again if their paths ever crossed.

Although truth be told if she did see him once more she was going to be too busy asking questions to be seduced by him. Hopefully. Lorissa still had no idea how he'd known where she lived, let alone how he'd gotten into her house without Nix detecting him. For that matter, how had he even known she was in the process of getting off? There was also his infuriating habit of vanishing, which was obviously teleportation magic. He had considerable power for someone his age, and she didn't like the fact she barely knew anything about him but had fallen into his arms on three separate occasions now. He had the potential to be extremely dangerous and _was_ for all she knew. Her brothers seemed as if they knew something about him but they weren't talking so she had to assume the information was for Orzhov members only. She wouldn't trespass on that loyalty, the way her family managed to get along despite having four guilds represented in it was by respecting one another's boundaries.

Of course it seemed unlikely she'd be seeing him anytime soon. It had been almost two months now and barring some unlikely event bringing him to Nivix she doubted they'd run into each other again. Enough time had passed that she was pretty certain they moved in different circles not only socially but location wise as well. Ravnica was quite large. She ignored the little voice pointing out he knew where to find her if he wanted to see her again. He knew where she worked and where she lived. She was already aware of the fact, she just preferred not to acknowledge it. No one liked rejection. She could hardly claim he'd used her because she'd received more satisfaction than he had, he'd literally gotten her off multiple times so she really had no room to complain. It wasn't like they had a relationship, they were basically strangers with a strong sexual connection. Although maybe not all that strong considering she hadn't heard from him. Better to just let it go, over thinking matters tended to do more harm than good.

This particular evening found Lorrisa doing research for a minor weird creation spell Tabozav was wanting to make improvements on. Something about the current make up was unstable enough to result in several of the creatures spontaneously evaporating into steam. She'd found a few texts on balancing the temperature of the fire element so he might be able to use it in the spell and the flame wouldn't reach a heat level capable of converting the liquid water to gas. It was tedious reading but she did feel bad for all the poofing weirds, they made horrible sounds when it happened. Thinking about their suffering was enough incentive to keep her on task, even though she was certain at this rate she wouldn't get home until almost daybreak. She sincerely hoped Tabozav wasn't expecting her to come in first thing in the morning.

After several hours of reading, her back was starting to get cramped so she stood and stretched to relieve the ache. It felt amazing and she let out a deep sigh as she started to sit back down. Unfortunately she'd been sitting still so long her legs were half asleep so when she bent over she lost her balance and she stumbled into the table. She watched in annoyance as the pile of papers with her notes went tumbling to the floor, scattering in every direction as they hit the ground. With a curse she crawled on hands and knees underneath the table and started scrambling to pick them up. This proved to be rather difficult since she was in her usual work outfit of skirt, blouse and heels. It would probably be more practical to wear pants, but since she'd decided to hunt down a man she was dressing a bit more feminine. Consequently her current outfit was a little more form fitting and short than she'd previously worn on the job, making moving around even more problematic. As it was, it felt like her skirt was riding up dangerously close to her panty line. Of course right then she heard the sound of approaching footsteps moments before a familiar voice sardonically said, "You realize that's considered an offer."

Naturally, she smacked her head on the bottom of the table.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>Jace stared down at the missive he'd just received, frowning in puzzlement. The Dracogenius had requested he bring back the scroll which he'd borrowed from the Izzet League months before. He didn't have a problem returning it since he'd copied down everything he needed, he was just surprised the dragon had bothered to make such a demand. It wasn't like Niv-Mizzet to concern himself with trivialities. The Memory Adept wondered if he was going to call in his favor already, but if that was the case the Firemind would have simply summoned him for that reason. Perhaps the dragon needed to track down the same ingredient for a spell of his own. It seemed highly unlikely, but that dragon's claws were in a thousand activities at once so it was possible.<p>

At any rate, he wasn't thrilled with the request for any number of reasons. He was a busy man these days and couldn't really spare the time for fulfilling such menial chores. He could have someone else return the scroll but Niv-Mizzet had specifically mandated he deliver the item personally. The dragon's arrogance was annoying in the extreme, but he did respect the Izzet League's parun for his intelligence and knowledge so he tolerated it as best he could. He wouldn't alienate such a valuable source of information lightly. He pulled out a parchment outlining his activities for the day and discovered he didn't have any time available until the evening. He was being slowly buried under the duties of the Guildpact. While he appreciated the power that came with the position he found the daily requirements wearisome beyond belief.

As he penned a note to himself to stop at Nivix later on, the second and more significant reason he didn't want to go to the Magewright headquarters flitted through his thoughts. He hadn't seen Lorissa since the night he performed breaking and entering on her house and body. His gross abuse of his power had turned his stomach, he had struggled for some time to govern his abilities in a way that was morally acceptable in an effort to atone for his past. He was ashamed of what he had done to her that night. It didn't matter that she'd received a great deal of pleasure at his hands, the fact remained he had violated her privacy. He had a terrible feeling he would do it again in a heartbeat, despite how often he chastised himself over his lack of control. She brought out something reckless in him, he couldn't afford to have that happening right now. He simply had too many responsibilities, too many people whose lives depended on his ability to think and act sensibly.

There was also his own pride to consider. He was normally a very controlled, rational man and he'd worked hard to become that way. Not so long ago he routinely took unnecessary risks for self gratification, thinking that he was clever enough to escape recriminations. Time and torture had eventually taught him otherwise, he had no wish to regress to behavior from the days of his youth. The simplest way to resist temptation was to avoid it. So far that hadn't been necessary, Ravnica was a large plane and he hadn't run into her since that night. Even with her seemingly endless number of relatives in what appeared to be nearly every guild in existence, the chances of her being in the same place he was were slim. Unless of course he happened to go to the guild she belonged to, which is why he'd avoided Nivix the last several weeks, sending messengers in his place when communication with the dragon was obligatory.

A personal summons for the return of the spell made that impossible in this instance. Just knowing he'd be in the same building she worked in was enough to send a spike of raw lust surging through his veins. He clenched his teeth in irritation, his inability to govern his body an issue of contention for him. He took exception with the fact she turned him into some kind of mindless sex slave, in particular since she wasn't even trying to do it. He seriously considered arranging a meeting with one of his sporadic lovers before going to the aerie. One of the ways he'd been avoiding temptation was to hook up when the urge to go to Lorissa's home came over him. He wasn't proud of the necessity but he also wasn't an idiot. It was a biological fact that the sexual needs of men were rapacious and historically speaking often got one into trouble. His method of dealing with this was to satiate the urge as close to reality as possible. It wasn't too difficult, once he figured out the reason he'd failed to stay aroused with other women he was able to fix the problem. Being a master illusionist, he simply made them into Lorissa for all intents and purposes. They looked, sounded, smelled and even tasted like her by the time he was finished constructing the illusion. And if some part of his brain insisted he knew the difference, he simply ignored it. Such encounters generally left him sated enough, even if there was a hollow edge to it.

Unfortunately he had no breaks in his time between meetings today, certainly not one long enough to indulge in a bout of intercourse. He might be able to get off quite quickly when the mood struck him, but it wasn't in his nature to leave a lady high and dry, particularly if he was using her to substitute for the one he really wanted. He'd end up feeling guilty. He'd just have to rough it out. It wasn't as if Lorissa would be there late at night anyway, most members of the guilds left by early evening. Just then someone knocked on his study door, and he looked up to see the mage he'd hired as an assistant walking in with another pile of documents. With a sigh, he turned his focus back to work.

The rest of his day passed by in a blur of reading over papers, mediating arguments between numerous guilds, and trying to come up with a system where he didn't have to handle so many of the duties himself. He was almost literally dragging ass by the time his last appointment was over when his assistant reminded him he had penned in an notation to go see Niv-Mizzet. His initial reaction was to refuse, he was exhausted and in no mood to deal with the dragon, who found it amusing to make jokes out of the strangest things. In the end, he simply went because he wanted to get the matter over with and because it was such an advanced hour in the day he was certain Lorissa would have left Nivix by now.

Even so, he was aware of a building excitement within him as he approached the Izzet League's guild hall. His body thrummed with nervous energy, he felt like an adolescent with his first crush and it was highly annoying. He tamped down the ridiculous responses as best he could as he made his way to the top of Nivix. When he presented himself at the dragon's personal residence in the aerie with spell in hand, he was in an impatient mood, eager to be away from this place that made him think of her against his will. The dragon was reading from a large tome and nodded in his direction as he approached.

"Good evening," he said without bothering to take his gaze off what he was reading. "You brought the spell?"

Annoyance surged through Jace but he fought it down enough so his tone was still nonchalant as he held it up and said, "Yes, here it is."

"Excellent," the Dracogenius murmured. "Would you mind taking it down to the vault? I'm in the middle of studying for an incantation at the moment and don't want to lose my focus."

Typical of a dragon to assume no one's time was as valuable as their own. Jace couldn't hold on to this thought for long because his mind was too busy pointing out to him the one and only time he'd gone to the vault, he'd had sex with Lorissa in it. He shook his head in frustration. Why couldn't he rid himself of her? His voice came out rife with his aggravation. "Fine, anything else you want, dragon?"

His words and something in his tone finally drew Niv-Mizzet's eyes to his. In his lair the dragon tended to wear his true form, and now he glanced down at the man from a considerable height, expression distinctly amused. "No, _boy_, that will be all."

The mind mage supposed he deserved that bit of teasing for his own rudeness, but he was still muttering to himself as he left the aerie. Nivix was practically deserted this late at night. He saw the occasional light on in a lab, probably belonging to some overzealous mage who'd lost track of the time working on an experiment. He was guilty of doing the same thing himself a time or two. Even so, he was surprised to find the library still illuminated because at first glance it looked like no one was there. Then he heard the sound of books and papers hitting the floor and moved in the direction of the commotion.

When Jace walked into the area the noise had issued from, Lorissa was on her hands and knees underneath a table with her ass in the air. He paused midstride, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. The view was quite nice. Enough that he actually forgot he wanted to avoid her at all costs. Which is why he pointed out she was making him an offer. He just didn't mention how tempted he was.

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><p>From his lair far above the library, the Firemind watched the scene through a scrying orb. "You'd better not mess it up this time, fool," the dragon grumbled at the image of the Memory Adept, before shutting off the device to give them privacy.<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>Jace watched Lorissa crawl out from underneath the table with a sense of inevitability. All the work he'd done to put her from his mind for the past few weeks was now pointless. Seeing her in the flesh managed to quash every good intention he had, his cautions to himself banished behind the primitive reactions she brought out of him every time he laid eyes on her. The skirt she was wearing rode up high on her legs, it wasn't a stretch to imagine it slipping a fraction higher and revealing her panties. As she spun around on her knees to face him, he got a perfect view down her silky blouse at her breasts in what looked like a metallic purple bra. He sighed to himself as he got an erection in her presence yet again. Why bother fighting it at all? It seemed like a waste of energy.<p>

Lorissa stared up at him, acutely aware how stupid she'd looked hitting her head under the table. Being forced to clamber out to face him was only slightly less humiliating, so her voice was waspish as she snapped, "What are you doing here?"

She didn't recant her earlier thoughts that he'd never bothered to see her, his presence here might indicate she was mistaken but it didn't even occur to her. Too much time had passed for that, she was pragmatic enough to realize he was there for something else.

Jace knew what she was thinking without even reading her mind. The atmosphere grew even more awkward if possible. It was true he'd known where to find her, also true he hadn't come looking. The last time they'd seen one another was when he'd done a hit and run on her. He silently threatened Niv-Mizzet's head with fiery doom. Well, at least she hadn't brought anything embarrassing up. "Returning the scroll I borrowed from Niv-Mizzet. Why are you here this time of night?"

Lorissa wobbled to her feet, muttering under her breath about the instability of heels. "Not that it's any of your business, but I'm working on a spell for a mage."

He titled his head to one side, puzzled. "Can you cast magic?"

He already knew she couldn't but he shouldn't know that information as far as she was concerned and he didn't want to have her start asking questions. He was also genuinely curious how she had gotten the position without having any power. He could always read her mind, but he was loathe to do that to her. The Dracogenius wasn't all that big on charity and tended to do things for his own benefit. Jace couldn't see the advantage to accepting a person incapable of casting the most mundane spells.

"Again, not your business," she replied, and with that for an answer he couldn't exactly find out any further information.

He couldn't blame her for her hostility, things were definitely bizarre and strained between them from the first time they met. Her dismissive attitude made him angry however and to his surprise a little hurt as well. He had no right to feel that way, he was the one who'd chosen to stay away. Unfortunately emotional responses were messy at best, which was why he preferred logic. He held up his hand in a placating gesture. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

"Is that all you do, apologize? I'm sick of your apologies," she snarled at him, finally meeting his gaze, her eyes snapping with anger. "Oh, I forget you're also fond of running away."

Her fury sparked his own, months of resentment coming to the fore. She'd cost him his peace of mind and had the temerity to criticize him. He took a step forward and in his irritation forgot to reign himself in, his eyes beginning to glow with power. "Perhaps if you'd stay out of my head, there'd be nothing to apologize for or run from."

Lorissa frowned in confusion, not sure what he meant, distracted by the blazing hue of his eyes, wondering if she should be afraid. "I don't know what you're talking about, but if you think I used some sort of spell on you then you're wrong. I can't cast magic, though that's not something I like admitting to."

There was the in he'd been looking for so he could question her, he ignored it now, too focused on his anger and her obliviousness. "I think nothing of the sort and I can't believe you're so obtuse."

Before she could infuriate him any further by asking what he meant, he took two long strides to close the gap between them and kissed her. It wasn't a nice gesture, full of spite and umbrage, a demonstration of his dislike for the influence she had over him. Despite that it also contained passion and desire, the longer it went on the faster the anger was consumed by the lust. It was a fatal miscalculation to have touched her, he dimly realized, aware of a fierce exultation sweeping over him. As his will sank beneath his hunger, he vaguely suspected his own body had betrayed him into doing just that, knowing he'd be unable to withstand holding her again.

Lorissa was utterly bewildered at this point. In the last five minutes she'd experienced a gamut of emotions. There'd been shock over his abrupt appearance, embarrassment over her compromising position, anger that he'd never contacted her in the last few weeks and yet had the nerve to speak to her as if nothing were amiss, confusion when it turned out he was angry with her, and now to top it all off he was kissing her. The man was walking chaos, utterly mystifying. If she had any sense at all she'd turn and run this very instant. Only, her body wasn't cooperating with her. Even as her mind shrieked a protest, her mouth opened under his with eagerness. The gesture of assent seemed to light a fire in him, suddenly his hands were all over her body and he was pressing her back against the edge of the table. The more he touched her, the less her brain was willing to put up a struggle, and in mere seconds all thought of resistance vanished.

Jace was tired of settling for whatever was on hand. He wanted her in his bed, where he'd been picturing her for months, sometimes literally with his illusions over the faces of other women. "My house," he growled, and she nodded at him in a daze, thinking he was seeking her consent. She let out a yelp a moment later when the teleportation spell he'd activated carried them from the library to his threshold in the blink of an eye.

His residence was in a very wealthy section of Ravnica, the exterior gilded and extravagant, soaring up for several stories in marbled splendor. The doors he kicked open were an earthen tone of metal bearing intricate symbols that had to have taken hours to carve. He hauled her into a wide foyer complete with crystalline chandelier and while he shut the doors behind them she glanced ahead to where a few steps led up to an elevated front room. The furnishings looked opulent even from a distance, done in cool tones of blue and black. A hand at her back propelled her forward, and as they gained the stairs that same hand suddenly anchored onto her hip, dragging her down to the floor so her knees were at the foot of the steps and her palms at the top.

Jace dropped to his knees behind her and pushed up her skirt, muttering, "I've wanted to do that since I saw you under the table."

Purple panties greeted his avid stare before he slid them aside and stroked one finger deep inside her. She was already drenched from their brief kiss and his stomach clenched with need. "You're always ready for me," he groaned in a guttural voice. Just like he was always ready for her, but he kept that revelation to himself since it seemed redundant at this point. Lorissa moaned, the sound sent him into a frenzy of excitement and he pulled her underwear down as he freed himself from his pants. He made love to her with all the finesse of a beast, leaning down to run his teeth over the side of her neck, his fingers digging into her hips hard enough to leave bruises. She met his every movement with blind delirium, the stairs biting into her palms as she pushed back to take in all of him.

The pace was frantic, their bodies starved for one another after so many months, the need so intense it burned. Normally Jace put her satisfaction first but this time he couldn't fight down his own passion. His own senses lost in fervor, driven willingly by a frightening urge to make her his. His wildness called to something equally feral in Lorissa, her breath hissing out of her in moans. They were quickly torn apart by the pleasure, shattering in the blink of an eye.

He barely caught himself in time as he collapsed, dodging to the side so they only partially clipped the stairs, slipping out of her in the process. They landed in a heap half on the floor half on each other, her sprawled across his chest so they were nose to nose. For long seconds they just remained that way, each aware that words seemed to be the enemy. Their knees hurt, they were covered in sweat, their chests heaving from exertion and yet they were experiencing the most acute elation as well as a peculiar sense of completeness. For Jace, who was not only independent but used to living a dangerous life where he could pick up and leave at a moment's notice, the sensation was terrifying. He lifted her off of his chest and hurriedly began righting his clothes, Lorissa watched him with shrewd eyes as she pulled up her panties from where they were tangled around her knees and pushed down her skirt.

"You're going to run again aren't you," she asked almost tiredly.

"No," he defensively replied, and it was true. He wasn't going to run. Instead, he reached over, placed a hand on her arm, and teleported them back the library inside Nivix.

She glanced around them in surprise, her eyes widening in understanding before she turned to him and said, "Don't you dare, we have to talk about-"

Jace was gone before she could finish that sentence. He felt a little guilty about leaving her there, but he couldn't handle a serious conversation with her right now. He didn't know what he was doing anymore, he kept acting first and thinking last, digging himself into a hole that was threatening to swallow him. He didn't understand what kept drawing them together. Of course he wanted her, that was obvious, but otherwise he didn't really know her at all. She seemed intelligent and funny enough but she had no power whatsoever. He couldn't possibly consider pursuing anything serious with someone like that, she'd never be able to understand his lifestyle and abilities.

Lorissa meanwhile had reached her limit. She was through letting that man make a fool out of her. She wasn't angry with him so much as herself. He'd never once offered her anything but amazing sex, she was the one who'd thought maybe something might develop. It was stupid of her really. She had two brothers who were pretty frank around her so she knew how men thought at least when it came to intercourse and relationships. His penchant for skipping out on her in such fantastic style did make her mad, however. It was fine if he just wanted to hook up on occasion, but it wasn't okay of him to just blink in and out of her life without any sort of discussion one way or another. In any event, that was the last time she slept with him. She knew she'd said it before, but this time she meant it.

* * *

><p>Planes away, beyond the unpredictable churnings of the Blind Eternities and the inexplicable meanderings of the human heart, two beings stood in deep conversation. The shorter one was waving hands around in an annoyed fashion while speaking, clearly agitated by the news being delivered. "That's the second time he's met up with this girl at Nivix, and I know for a fact he's seen her around the plane as well."<p>

"I don't see a use for this information yet, although there are possibilities," the larger replied. "What of the other one?"

"Delivered to New Prahv as you requested. He should be brought to Isperia's attention pretty quickly I'd imagine. He's going to wake up awfully confused and probably angry."

"Excellent," the figure chuckled, the sound as malicious as it was mirthful. "They'll never think to suspect him of anything since he is unaware of the truth himself."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

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><p>He woke with a pounding headache and a mouth full of dust. Awareness came to him slowly, long before he could muster the strength to open his eyes. For a while he simply laid where he was, awake yet unmoving as his body tried to fully rouse itself. Every inch of him was sore, as if he'd overexerted himself for an extensive amount of time. He tried to think what he could have done to put such a strain on his muscles but came up empty. He normally preferred working in his lab, flexing his mind. As his limbs awakened, pain started shooting through his nerve endings with acute intensity. It was almost as if he'd fallen asleep in an awkward position, except the sensation was in all of his extremities simultaneously. It increased with every second, until he thought he might scream from the intensity. His lungs struggled to get in enough air, moving hesitantly as if from disuse, the very act of drawing breath an oppressive endeavor. The frightening feeling finally forced his eyes open and he let out a shout of surprise when he realized someone was standing over him. Coupled with the odd experience he'd had so far, it was enough to put him on the defensive and he tapped into the environment, drawing on an incredibly rich mana supply he found at hand as he summoned up a shield.<p>

The person immediately backed away, hands raised to show they held no weapons and a soothing voice said, "We mean you no harm."

He didn't release the spell of course, well aware they could be lying, instead mustering all his strength to lever himself up onto one elbow so he could take in his surroundings. His vision was as blurry as if he'd tied one on, but he could make out half a dozen humanoid shapes in his vicinity, all of them standing at a respectful distance with hands in the air. Some of his tension dissipated, but he remained alert as he battled to sit up further, wincing at the effort. Empty hands could still cast spells, after all, often far deadlier than mere weapons.

"You might want to reconsider getting up," the speaker replied, her voice tinged with obvious concern. "You've been under our care for over a month, going in and out of consciousness."

"Where am I and how did I get here," he managed to growl out between stiff lips, his throat raw from lack of use, talking even that little painful in the extreme.

"You're in the medical facility at New Prahv," the woman told him, her voice more than a little puzzled. "As for how you got here, we don't know. You were found unconscious on Azorius Senate grounds."

He had no idea where any of the places she'd mentioned were. Somehow, he was on a plane he'd never been to before. How was that even possible? Had Elspeth or someone else brought him to this place? For that matter, why couldn't he remember anything at all about his arrival there? He tried to focus his thoughts, to seek his last memory, but nothing came to mind. He felt a surge of panic until he reminded himself he'd apparently been in a coma for weeks so his brain was going to be a little sluggish. He could remember who and what he was, the most important things in his opinion. Hopefully the rest would come in time.

He glanced around the chamber as his vision slowly cleared, taking in the area as best he could. The space was small but clean, with a table and chairs in addition to the bed he was in. The colors were in soothing shades of blue and white, the solitary window stood slightly ajar to let in a breeze. The atmosphere was designed to be tranquil but he ignored it as he turned his attention back to the other people in his vicinity. They seemed to match the room as far as the shades they wore and each of them bore a crest of a triangle with some circular design in the middle. The person who had first spoken to him had backed away slowly so the entire group stood by the door, bodies still relaxed and making no threatening signs towards him. She was a tiny thing with long blond hair and enormous brown eyes, still lovely even though she was several years older than he was. The other people in the room dwarfed her but she was clearly the one in charge, her demeanor at once authoritative and kind.

He glanced down at his clothing, noting he too was dressed in their choice of colors. He'd been bathed and shaved while he was unconscious and strangely that realization made him more at ease than anything else. He didn't think someone who planned on killing him would take care of his five o clock shadow. He finally lowered his shield and leaned back down against the pillows propped under his head.

"Thanks for watching out for me," he said, confused but convinced of their good intentions for the time being. Their motivations were another matter, which is why he was keeping his mental guard up if nothing else.

The speaker waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "It was nothing. Unfortunately it seems to be all we can do for you at the moment, since you appear to have lost your memory."

An assumption on the woman's part, though not entirely incorrect. There were definitely things he couldn't remember, but he knew very well he wasn't from this place and he had no friends or contacts there. He needed to scout around or possibly even walk, but he couldn't do that until he recovered his strength. "Is there an inn nearby where I could stay? It feels wrong imposing on your hospitality for so long."

"Don't be ridiculous, we do what we can for those in need," she responded. "My name is Salinda deCar. I'm in charge of your care, my superior Lavinia has asked me to keep her informed of your status so I'll let her know you're awake. You are free to remain here as long as you'd like, but if you'd feel more comfortable looking for other lodgings you may do so."

He sat up and winced as his body shrieked in protest. He considered his options. He was on a strange plane so he had no idea where to even begin looking for suitable quarters. It was clear he'd been treated well by this Azorius Senate but he didn't care for being under so many watchful eyes while he figured out where he was and what the hell had happened to him.

"Perhaps you'd feel more at ease staying in less intimidating surroundings," she suggested, tilting her head to the side as she studied him. "I've been keeping watch over you for several weeks and you were never violent even in your worst moments of delirium. I believe you to be a peaceful man, as such I'd welcome you to stay at my home. It's quite large, I have three children and they've all moved out to their own places so there are several spare rooms you could use."

The overture was incredibly magnanimous and somewhat foolish, he could be a murderer for all she knew. He told her, "How do you know I wouldn't hurt you?"

The people behind her stiffened but she gave him a gentle smile. "I'm afraid of no such thing. Even if my impression of you were wrong, I'm not defenseless nor is my husband. As I said, the choice where you stay is up to you. I just thought I'd give you another option."

There was also the possibility she wanted to keep an eye on his activities, but if she did he couldn't blame her. His appearance at their door had to seem highly suspect indeed. He reviewed a few alternate plans in his head and concluded her offer was the best course of action for now. Better to be under the watch of a few people rather than an entire organization. "If it's not too much trouble I'll take you up on the generous offer."

She actually clapped her hands together in pleasure, a warm expression on her face. "Wonderful, the house is so quiet lately it will be lovely having a guest."

Her reaction surprised a laugh out of him, he'd rarely met someone who seemed to be as genuinely gracious as this lady. "I'll try not to be too much trouble. By the way, the name is Venser, it's a pleasure to meet you Salinda deCar."

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><p>"Well, he seems to have survived the process with his mind in tact," a man replied to his companion as they stared out over a rolling plane of heaving flesh and putrescence, his nose wrinkled in disgust. "By the way, you pick the worst places to meet up."<p>

The other being smirked at his obvious irritation. "My interest in your approval of the decor is negligible. Keep in mind such areas decrease the likelihood of crossing paths with others. At any rate, is there any news of the Mind Sculptor?"

"He's all over Ravnica, his influence over the guilds is growing to dangerous levels. Even some of the guildmasters are becoming uneasy with his amount of power, although they can't really see a way around it yet," the man added.

"Unpleasant news indeed," the other grumbled. "One can only hope my pawn will be in action before he becomes unreachable."

"He isn't easy to approach to begin with, thanks to his ability to sense thoughts. I have no chance of catching him unawares, at least your puppet is operating under masked intentions so won't give himself away."

"Assuming he does as I wish to begin with," the other sighed. "I do so detest convoluted plans, it's so simple for them to go awry."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I have changed the story rating to M. This chapter contains adult content, edited to be safe for this site. The full version of this chapter for readers 18 and older can be found on the website listed on my profile.**

**This story is not being written for profit, all MTG characters and settings are property of WOTC. Anything else is mine.**

* * *

><p>Following her latest debacle with Jace, Lorissa decided not only was she done with him, she was taking a break from men in general. Why bother looking for someone to take her mind off Jace, when all she really needed to do was remind herself of all the disasters that had befallen her every time she crossed paths with him. True they generally ended with her being satisfied in a carnal sense, but they also left her feeling confused and irritated. Better to just distance herself from those types of situations altogether. It wasn't like men were beating down her door to get to her anyway. With the exception of Jace, the opposite sex didn't seem to realize she was alive. Swearing them off turned out to be remarkably easy.<p>

After her success with finding and fixing flaws in the weird creation spell, Tabozav had promoted her to his personal assistant. No more demeaning tasks for her. Instead she was saddled with poring over increasingly complicated spells, looking for ways to improve them. Her promotion earned her about half a dozen enemies among the up and coming mages who worked in his lab as well and couldn't tolerate being passed over for a mere human. They constantly found little ways to interfere with her duties, either by misplacing items she needed or being recalcitrant about helping her in the first place. She was down to spending only a handful of hours per week in the library at Nivix. She would have been tempted to relinquish her position completely except she truly loved working in the archives and since she was willing to put in hours no one else would even consider, her continued employment there was assured.

Niv-Mizzet made it a point to bother her about once a week. She'd finally realized she was something of a pet to the dragon, for some reason he found her amusing and because he had so many fascinating stories to tell she couldn't drum up the energy to be annoyed by the fact. Being the object of his attention was troublesome on many fronts, the other workers in the library, particularly the mages, treated her with bitter scorn because they couldn't understand why the Firemind would waste his time on a human with no magic. She found their jealousy ironic, since his visits frequently made her uncomfortable all on their own. For one thing, she'd never get used to the sheer size of him. She knew he altered his shape so he could comfortably fit in any section of Nivix he cared to visit, but he was still enormous by any standards. He also had a way of speaking that reminded her how young and foolish she was compared to a being who'd lived for thousands of years.

However what made her the most uneasy about his visits was how often he pried into her personal affairs. Shortly after her last bout of insanity with Jace, the dragon had asked her in passing if she'd managed to find a lover yet. Setting aside the sheer inappropriateness of the question, which Niv-Mizzet would refuse to even acknowledge were she to call him on it, she had been forced to explain yet again that she was still single and likely to remain so. To her surprise, the dragon had scowled at her comment, his demeanor distinctly irate as he began to mutter under his breath about the stupidity of boys who thought they were so clever but in fact were as inept as posts. She had no idea what he was ranting about and had learned early on in their relationship to not bother to ask. If the Dracogenius wished to discuss something with her, he would.

The dragon was pleased with her work for Tabozav, although he frequently informed her she was spending far too much time working and not nearly enough time playing. From his point of view, mortal life was too short to squander. From her point of view, her dating life was none of his business and she'd told him as much to his face. He'd laughed at her and then informed her that people who were overworked and lacking in any relaxing pursuits tended to perform poorly in the long run. She'd had no rejoinder for that. She hated when he was right, which was nearly all the time and the insufferable creature knew it too.

So her life in the Izzet League grew increasingly complicated. She was certainly moving up the ladder on her own merit, however she was gaining a large number of rivals on the way through no fault of her own. Unfortunately the bias against individuals incapable of magic was greater than the respect for one capable of advancing through hard work. She did what she could to mitigate the damage, asking other mages to assist her with her research whenever possible but it did little good. They helped her because they had to, knowing a refusal would incur the wrath of Tabozav or possibly the guildmaster himself. They didn't see her offer as a generous attempt to elevate them in the eyes of either of those individuals, although that was her true intent. Instead they thought she was trying to slough menial labor onto them. In the beginning she tried to explain her actions, eventually she gave up when she realized they were only going to believe what they wanted to.

Her current project was one she'd constructed herself. Hours of searching for spells in the library had led her to realize there needed to be a system for easily accessing items as well as incantations. The generic spellbook contained a few dozen spells, basic ingredients if the creator was diligent and not much more. She was putting together a scrolling spellbook, one that acted as a sort of portal for retrieving multiple complicated spells and ingredients instantaneously. It involved combining teleportation, tracking and categorizing spells in a seamless flowing conjuration. So far she had researched dozens of each variant, writing out possible amalgamations as she went. The list she had was now a small tome and would take months to sort through, but she felt the results would be worth it. She had mentioned the idea in passing to both Tabozav and Niv-Mizzet, they found the concept interesting but unlikely to succeed with so many variables. Still, she wasn't about to give up on it.

Which meant she spent most of her waking hours in either the lab or the library. Her parents had finally sent her a missive a few days ago complaining about the fact they hadn't seen her in over a month. She hadn't responded right away, not having found it until almost a week after it's arrival and in the interim her brothers had stopped by to give her a good ass chewing for upsetting their mother. So tonight she was going to leave Nivix at a decent hour and spend the evening with her family, unless she wanted to deal with a tirade from her father next. Her mother was always the last to yell and also the most intimidating when she did it, because it took a lot to anger the kindhearted woman so when she lost her temper it was truly terrifying to behold. There was also the fact that no one knew how to lay on guilt like mothers.

As she was putting away her supplies and packing up her tome containing the list of spells she was compiling, the Firemind breezed into Tabozav's lab, his immense form dwindled down to accommodate the suite. She had to suppress a groan at his appearance. While she generally enjoyed their conversations, tonight she was in a hurry and unfortunately the dragon was not known for being brief in his orations. He _was _known for being intelligent and observant however and he cocked his head as he drew near saying, "Are my eyes deceiving me, or is my most devoted workaholic actually leaving before sunset?"

She rolled her eyes at his baiting tone. "Yes, liege. I've been summoned by my parents."

"Ah, so you're not going of your own free will then. I should have known," he mused. "I suppose what I had to discuss with you can wait until tomorrow."

It was an out for her so she could leave immediately but Lorissa had a strong sense of duty so before she could think better of it she asked, "Is it something I can help you with immediately, or will it take a while?"

The dragon shrugged a massive shoulder nonchalantly. "I've been asked to lend the facilities at the library to a guest of the Azorius Senate and I was going to see if you wouldn't mind overseeing the visitor's activities while they're in the guild hall since your mother is a member of the High Judges. The fellow isn't due to arrive for a couple of days, I wanted to run the idea past you beforehand."

It sounded like a request but she knew it was a kindly worded command. Niv-Mizzet didn't really deal in appeals so much as demands. He was the guildmaster after all. She wouldn't even think of refusing a direct query from him even if they didn't have a somewhat friendly rapport. "I'd be delighted sir. Anything that helps both my liege and my mother at the same time can only be a pleasure to carry out."

It was nauseating flattery but she knew he enjoyed it on occasion. He chuckled to let her know he was aware of her tactics, his expression pleased. "I assumed you would say as much. Now go, enjoy the time with your family."

She gratefully accepted the dismissal, bolting from the room before he changed his mind and brought up anything else. The Dracogenius watched her depart and said, "Hopefully this new male isn't an idiot like the last one. Otherwise letting him use my library is a waste of time."


End file.
